Messages - akr71

Just for the sake of my own curiosity how difficult is it to ship beer across the border? Does a lot of it get held up? I've never shipped any internationally before.

I have shipped internationally (and I'm Canadian) - usually just swapping homebrews, but I have entered the odd contest. It is a real PITA. Besides the higher courier fees, you have to fill our NAFTA paperwork and if you state that it is alcohol, you have basically guaranteed it will not get delivered (and may not get sent back to you either).

It is far easier to stretch the truth a little on the paperwork and claim the contents as 'glass collectibles-gift' I had a guy send me his beer the States who labeled it 'personal belongings-underwear & socks' - the guy worked at a hotel What customs agent is going to poke through someones dirty underwear...

Experts say the world could be on the verge of a significant bacon shortage because of rising feed costs and declining pig populations.

Britain's National Pig Association said Tuesday that an international shortage of bacon and other pork products is now "unavoidable," and expects higher prices for consumers soon.

Recent data shows Europe's pig population declining at an alarming rate "and this is a trend that is being mirrored around the world," the NPA said in a release. Every major pork-producing European nation has fewer pigs today than they did last year, even as demand for pork products has remained high.

A crippling drought in the U.S. farm belt caused the price of corn and soy, two staples of agricultural feed, to skyrocket. Retailers have been thus far unwilling to pass those costs on to consumers, and instead have been paying pig farmers less for each pig.

The problem is not limited to Europe.

The Canadian Pork Council confirms that the size of North America's pig herd is shrinking, which will drive up prices as farmers start to limit supply.

"It's because of the rise in the price of corn," the agency's public relations manager, Gary Stordy, told CBC News. "Producers are losing money right now and like any other business, when you're not making money, you shut down."

U.S. laws that mandate a certain percentage of the corn crop go into ethanol fuel for the transportation industry had lit a fire under corn prices even before the drought. The size of the continent's corn crop has been rising for a decade, before falling precipitously this year.

The potential pork shortage has made waves on the internet, where bacon in particular has its own frenzied fan club.Read the online reaction.

When that happens, other corn buyers, including pig farmers, get hit.

"You can buy futures for some commodities, but not feed," Stordy said. "Farmers can't find a way to hedge their bets, so they have to pay the market price," which has suddenly become unsustainable, he said.

The cost increases have made it no longer cost-efficient for farmers to raise pigs, NPA says. It recently warned that a fall of two per cent in the number of hogs slaughtered next year would push consumer prices up by 10 per cent

"NPA believes slaughtering could fall by as much as 10 per cent in the second half of next year, which indicates a doubling of the price of … pork and pork products," the agency said.

"Travel can be expensive. One man is using a unique way to pay for a trip as a challenge. Pennsylvania comedian Josh Sankey is on a mission to make a cross-country road trip from New York to Los Angeles with no other currency but bacon.

Sankey isn't carrying any cash or credit cards as he makes his cross country trip. He is paying for everything from gas to lodging by using uncooked bacon as currency. He set off on his trip with 3,000 pounds of the popular meat and he seems to be getting good deals with it so far.

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"I got two tickets to the Jets game for six bricks [of bacon]," Sankey told ABC. "They were pretty good seats, too."

Sankey's trip is part of a promotion for bacon producer Oscar Mayer. He is being followed by a film crew as they document Sankey's bacon barter.

Sankey, of New Castle, kicked off his trip in New York on Sept. 9. He has until Sept. 23 to make it to Los Angeles as he barters the bacon that he's towing in a trailer.

Sankey has made some interesting trades so far along his journey. He was able to get a taxi ride in NYC, Jets tickets, lodging at stranger's houses who he met through Twitter, homemade moonshine and wine, jumper cables, gas money and more. Sankey was even able to hire 29 college interns for 100 pounds of bacon in Lafayette, Ind. However the strangest trade was paying a fan with 200 bricks of bacon to get a bacon tattoo, which cost another 200 bricks of bacon.

Now Sankey is hoping to make even more impressive trades.

"Now I just really want to up the ante," he told ABC. "I mean, a guy got a permanent tattoo of bacon in exchange for bacon. How do you top that?"

Sankey is aiming for a stay in a penthouse with a hot tub or a helicopter ride. With the help of his 3,200 Twitter followers and the 735K Facebook followers on the Oscar Meyer page, Sankey's goals may be plausible as fans are willing to help him in just about any way.

So far, he has traveled to New York City, East Rutherford, N.J., Hagerstown, Md., Charleston, W.Va., Lesage, W.Va., Louisville, Ky., and Chicago, IL."

We just bought a 2012 Sorento (4 cyl AWD) this spring. Just under 9000 miles and we still enjoy it. Even tho' its a bigger vehicle, we're getting better fuel economy than our 2007 Rondo that we traded in for it.

This is our 3rd Kia and I wouldn't hesitate buying another - I still shop around with every car purchase, but they just deliver more features for less $. Once you've had heated seats in a Canadian winter, there is no going back! My only real issue is that (on the Rondo at least) I had to replace brakes and tires far quicker than expected, but that's no the first vehicle to have cheap factory installed brakes & tires.

Been away from the forum for quite a while - life got in the way, but I've still been lurking every now and again.

+1 - I had to stop at that one though. I am at work & folks are starting to wonder why I'm gasping for breath and have tears running down my face. I finish the rest after most of the staff leave & Iock the doors at 4.

Yeah, disappointing, but if you think about the way music is sold nowadays, it's not all that surprising.

Music is sold nowadays? In all seriousness, it is heartening to see CD prices finally come down out of the stratosphere - I bought a Sonic Youth disc recently & only paid $12 instead of $25+. The moronic record company policy of increasing prices to make up for lost revenue due to piracy seems to be history. How many more folks pirated music because of their price goudging idocy is unknown though.

Obviously BFI is too young to remember Apple's beginnings. My dad bought me a Commodore, which I was thankful for, but I was more thankful that the computer lab at school was full of Apple II computers and the computer science teacher left the lab open at lunch time.